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New Hive, might be Queenless...

So I "rescued" a hive that had moved into a bird house at the end of September. They had built comb all around the outside of the birdhouse. I cut the comb free and moved everyone into a hive. Things seemed to be going great: comb building, new brood, lots of foraging, but then I opened them up last week after noticing a change in behavior. There were no signs of a queen. Most frames were full of honey and there were no signs of brood or eggs. I waited a week and checked again today, still no signs of eggs or brood, just honey.

I am fairly new to bee keeping. This is my second hive. Should I be worried? Is this normal fall behavior? Am I queenless??

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

Was the queen laying in it after you did the transfer? If so, when something happened to it they would have raised a new virgin which will prevent successful introduction of a purchased queen. So your options are to put a comb with eggs in and check 5 to 7 days later to see if there are queen cells. If there are, they have no queen of any kind, you can kill the queen cells and safely introduce a bought queen. If there are no queen cells they may have a virgin or laying woirkers. Come back here and ask & we cantalk you though what to do about that.

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

After I first put them in, I definitely saw one frame get laid and then develop brood. That frame is now full of honey. There isn't a laying worker, as there are no eggs or brood. I never saw any queen cells and there aren't any now. I also have a queen excluder on the bottom of the hive to help keep them there after the transfer.

If I introduce a frame and they raise a virgin queen, will she be able to find drones this late in the season? Are there still commercial queens available?

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

Thanks, i was starting to research the option of a newspaper combine. Things are getting a little chilly around here and my hives are about half an hour apart. If I transfer a frame, do I need to keep bees on it? What temp should I try to keep things?

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

Just shake the bees off a suitable frame with eggs in it, then transfer it to the hive you think may be queenless.

But as Beemandan correctly said, it could be normal winter shutdown so you'd need to talk to other beekeepers in your area to see what's happening in their hives. Some breeds, such as carniolans, shut down sooner than other breeds, such as italians.

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

Originally Posted by bee_safe

If I introduce a frame and they raise a virgin queen, will she be able to find drones this late in the season? Are there still commercial queens available?

If there are still drones in your hive...then you might be able to assume that there are others in the neighborhood. She would also need some warm afternoons to make mating flights. I don't know enough about your climate to guess.

I might add that transporting a frame with eggs for half an hour has its own risks. The eggs and larvae may dry out. They may get chilled.

Also if you chose you might be able to get a queen from one of the Hawaiian producers. I believe they have them year round....but it might be a bit pricey.

Under the circumstances, were it mine, I'd just leave it as is. When spring arrives...if it is queenright it'll be ok...and if not, you can start again. Tinkering with your hives this late in the season places them both at risk.

Good luck.

Dan www.boogerhillbee.com
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

Thanks guys. Seeing as this is my first winter, I don't know exactly what to expect. I will check on my other hive and compare. I guess I will just have to let this one ride and see what happens.

So it is normal for the queen to stop laying for a while in the winter?? With as warm as it has been, I assumed that they would still be going strong. We have not had a freeze yet and afternoon temps still reach the upper 70's.

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

Originally Posted by bee_safe

...snip... With as warm as it has been, I assumed that they would still be going strong. We have not had a freeze yet and afternoon temps still reach the upper 70's.

I don't even think it is Fall yet in Austin, I would expect a light honey flow close to the city now, Thanksgiving frequently still has temperatures in the 70's in that part of Texas..
The sooner you put eggs in there, the sooner the bees can tell you what is going on. BTW, I'm surprised no one has recommended removing the queen excluder (that allows drones and unmated queens to fly....).

Last edited by Lburou; 11-18-2012 at 10:16 PM.

LeeB
I try to learn from my mistakes, and from yours when you give me a heads up :)

Re: New Hive, might be Queenless...

I went through this about a month ago. I decided I wasn't sure what was going on, or what I was going to do about it. So I let them be and now things are fine.

If the OP would have checked to see if they had built a queen cell we would know if this could be possible. Still not clear if the hive had useable larvae in it after it was moved.

If there is an actual date for when the hive was moved, we can tell you when you may expect a new laying queen, assuming the old queen was killed at the time of moving. The OP can then know when to take action, if the new queen doesn't happen.